OWS Library Staff Recovers Books and Supplies, Less Than One-Fifth is Usable

What: Press conference to address the destruction of the OWS People’s Library by Mayor Michael Bloomberg during the 11/15 raid.
*Photo Opportunity* All of the recovered, destroyed books will be at the press conference.
Where: 260 Madison Ave, 20th Floor, between 38th and 39th St
When: Wednesday, November 23, at 12:00 noon
Who: Norman Siegel will host and moderate. Speakers: Gideon Oliver of the National Lawyers Guild, Hawa Allan a Fellow at Columbia Law School, and Occupy Wall Street Librarians from the People’s Library. Law professors from Columbia, members of the American Library Association, various writers and others have been invited.

So far, the People’s Library has received 1,099 books back from the Dept. of Sanitation after last week’s raid (some of which were not library books to begin with), and out of these, about 800 are still usable. About 2,900 books are still unaccounted for, and less than one-fifth of the original collection is still usable. These numbers may change slightly when the People’s Library gets an exact count of the recent (and final) retrievals from Sanitation, but not considerably.

“The People’s Library was destroyed by NYPD acting on the authority of Mayor Michael Bloomberg on the night of the raid. In addition to all our supplies, laptops, and tent, they threw roughly 4,000 books into garbage trucks and dumpsters that were adjacent to the park, as well as assorted rare documents that were associated with OWS,” says William Scott, an Occupy Wall Street Librarian.

Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has spread to more than 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. For more visit www.occupywallst.org

25 responses to “Library Press Conference”

I find it funny to read librarians tweeting in support of OWS and their coveted “library” from their cushy cheap secretary chairs (I doubt a single one got even close to an OWS loser-fest). What a joke. Prisons have libraries too and nobody seems to find that remarkable. The entire OWS movement was a total failure and ended up costing the taxpayers even more. Thanks. Oh and by the way, thank you for tying librarians to this fiasco. I am so disappointed that the ALA is supporting this OWS crap and even featuring it in their Midwinter conf. I am going to cancel my membership. ALA, you hitched your wagon to the wrong horse. OWS, you don’t represent me or my profession. Instead of bitching and complaining, go and actually do something productive. We can all see now that very few Americans supported you and even less gave a damn. The media just dropped you like you have the plague, watch the rest follow suit.

In addition to the library, media teams’ laptops, and personal belongings, let’s also not forget that the NYPD also completely trashed the Occupy Shrine and Altar space. Please work with us to sign the petition below and spread the word.

This was a compassion-less and disrespectful action taken upon an established community space, including our religious and meditation altar space around the only remaining tree of the 9-11 attacks – the Tree of Life.

Blogged about this Deplorable action which is reminiscent f 1930’s Nazi Germany !
Obama’s dirty finger nails are on the note passed yesterday and it is symbolic of what is going on behind the scenes !

Too often in the past US Presidents have ignored what is happening in their ” Watch “, let’s hope this is a wakeup call to the Current Administration because telling Syria currently an other Nations in the past to ” Shape Up ” is no longer acceptable whilst a NIMBY is taking place in the USA !

Koki or Banki Moon from the UN should take the time to stroll down for a visit before the Dali Lama upstages them

When did we last hear about a Government that destroyed books? Germany – WWII? thinking about this event – democracy is not the first thing that comes to mind! The true face of the 1%? Knowledge is power! Does the Millionaire Mayor care if the US Government provides education? Apparently the Mayor ordered the destruction of books – books that were used for educational purposes.

Haha oh man. In all earnestness, I clicked through to see another viewpoint on the People’s Library. I don’t know the politics of libraries and am open to learning about concerns some may have about OWS Library operation. But you lost me at “economic terrorism”.

Media outlets would be well-advised to speak with Mr. Kleinmann. I thought cable news had snapped up all the raving conspiracy theorists, but it looks like they don’t have all of them yet.

Regarding economic terrorism, the guy organizing that can be seen on YouTube organizing that–you can see him saying this himself. Further, even MoveOn,org, or was it Media Matters For America, agreed that if it went off as described, that would be economic terrorism. Now look at the current facts, with, for example, “occupy” shutting down shipping ports. What would you call that if it were done by people crashing airplanes?

So with the economic terrorist stating he will commit economic terrorism on the USA and will train others to join him, I feel 100% certain that my calling what he is doing what he calls what he is doing what it is is on sound footing.

The content of your posts informs me that you have not thoroughly read any information from the People’s Library. I believe that one of your primary points is that the archives were not protected adequately. If I recall correctly, most of the archival materials had been moved to safer locations, but the collection of archival items was ongoing. Those that had not yet been moved were destroyed. If you had read other posts here, you would know that the librarians had plans in place for the removal of the library in the event of a ‘raid’ but it seems that the timing of the raid may have made it less possible to carry out the plans. You need to more informed if you are going to be so virulent in your assessment. I can’t speak to your other concerns about ALA, the Cuban libraries and library workers, but I am interested enough to seek the facts and appreciate that there may be valid concerns in that case.

I am happy you put the word “raid” in quotes as that evidences a grasp of reality. It’s not a raid but calling it a “raid” makes it sound ominous, evil, etc. Like with censorship. It’s not censorship to keep inappropriate material from children but calling it “censorship” makes it sound ominous, evil.

If the “librarians” plans to move the “library” failed, that is not the fault of the people removing the garbage.

I saw in the video of the garbage removal plenty of people standing around chanting but nobody helping to remove the material. That too is not the fault of the people removing the garbage.

By the way, OWS Library was quick to show off the garbage. What I’d like to see is what was viewed as “archival materials.”

Thanks, Jane Hall. What do you think about the ALA failing to support the jailed Cuban librarians and their libraries? The ALA didn’t even announce that they were finally released from jail. What do you think of that?